


This is War

by Pyrobee



Category: Runaways (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, F/F, Femslash, Femslash February, Lesbian, Prank Wars
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-28
Updated: 2018-03-02
Packaged: 2019-03-25 07:57:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13829850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pyrobee/pseuds/Pyrobee
Summary: Nico's worked hard to earn Los Angeles' trust as its resident superhero, so when a shiny new hero shows up on her turf, she gets a little territorial.-or-The fic where Nico starts a superpowered prank war and Karolina is totally game.





	1. The Day the War Began

Nico is Los Angeles’s resident superhero. She’s been saving the day here for going on a year now, so it’s her turf. She’d literally won it through blood, sweat, and tears (not that many tears, she’s got a reputation to uphold), and the people hadn’t always trusted her. Maybe it was surprising, but people had been suspicious of a witch dressed in gothic clothes who went around magically beating the shit out of people. Regardless, she’d eventually earned that trust, and it hadn’t been an easy thing. So when a shiny new superhero shows up to save the day, she’s a little miffed.

Okay, she’s a lot miffed.

They call the girl LSD because of how she glows psychedelic colors, and she’s so nice and kind when they interview her that she becomes their favorite right away. Her first save is a basic robbery, and she literally swoops in and blasts the guys with rays of rainbow light, taking them out before Nico can even get to the scene. The reporters on air give her press that glows as bright as she does, and it’s bullshit because they’d been so, so suspicious when Nico first arrived. The headlines had read, “Sister Grimm: Hero or Menace?” and similar, like saving people every other day puts her motives in question. So Nico curses out the occasional reporter for getting in the way; she’s just trying to do her very unappreciated job. But her perma-scowl and gothic looks don’t stand a chance against the new girl. They call LSD an angel, and she’s just the local witch.

The last straw comes when Nico lands in an alley close to the scene of yet another robbery only to find that LSD has once again wrapped things up before she can even show. The news crew is filming her as she watches the cops take the bad guys away, her hands on her hips. There are people scattered around, cameras aimed at the victor. LSD turns to the camera crew and smiles, saying, “See, kids? Crime doesn’t pay.”

And maybe it’s the corny line or just the fact that the whole situation reminds her of the first time the girl had shown up to steal her city, but, well, Nico snaps. 

She’s casting the spell before she’s even thought it through, and suddenly a giant balloon appears out of thin air right over the glowing girl, and it drops right onto the girl’s head. Ink-black paint bursts out of the balloon’s skin, splattering all over LSD. There’s stunned silence where even Nico gapes at the other girl, who’s covered head to toe in black goop, and then bystanders are taking pictures, and the camera is still filming LSD as she looks around, stunned. She catches sight of Nico where she’s come out of the alley to watch, and the goth gasps and stumbles back into the shadows. She uses her staff to jet off and flies through the window to her apartment bedroom a few minutes later, her heart pounding.

“Crap,” she says.

The next day, Nico shows up to work at a shitty hipster cafe, which is where she pays off what bills aren’t covered by citizen donations. She’s dreading that the news is going to play the scene on loop and that she’s going to have her guilt rubbed in her face all day while she makes crappy coffee. No doubt they’ve already published something on it. And people will be talking...

Her suspicions are confirmed when she looks up at her coworker and sees the judgement on his face. Alex Wilder was a geeky kid growing up and is still a geek today, majoring in computer science at UCLA. He’s also her ex-boyfriend and one of the only people who knows her secret, having helped her track crimes with his computer skills before the police started clueing her in.

“A paint balloon, Nico?” he asks dryly.

“Keep it down,” she hisses, looking around. There are barely any people in the shop, just a bleery-eyed couple lounging on one of the couches, but still. She ties on her apron with angry, jerky movements. 

Alex rolls his eyes but leans in closer. Nico leans back, glaring, and he just sighs and whispers, “What did LSD do to you? Other than having a horrible name, she’s been good for LA. She stopped those robbers--”

“That should have been my fight,” Nico snaps. 

Alex raises an eyebrow. “Your fight? Shouldn’t helping people be universal?”

Nico scoffs. Alex is always a little too judgemental. If he was in her shoes, he’d understand. Well...maybe. “It’s my city, Alex,” she says over her own inner struggle. “She should go to San Fran or something. They don’t have a superhero. LA is doing just fine”

Alex raises an eyebrow. “San Fran also doesn't have as many villains,” he points out. “You were just complaining the other day about being tired from all your late nights.”

Nico looks away, uncomfortable, and Alex sees right through her, the jerk.

“Is it because of all the press?” He glances over at the TV, which Nico has been glaring at for weeks as piece after piece on the glowing girl from outer space spun on repeat. “Do you think they like her more?”

Nico clenches her jaw. “No,” she lies. “It’s not about that.”

Alex touches her shoulder despite the glare that says she wants to break his arm. “Look, Nico, everyone loves you. You may not be a ray of sunshine like her, but you’ve saved more lives than I can count. Just try talking to her, okay? Maybe you two can work together.”

Nico makes a noncommittal noise, and then someone walks in, breaking whatever kind of moment that was supposed to be. Alex doesn’t bring it up again.

A couple of days later, she really starts feeling bad because she makes it to the scene of a hostage situation before LSD, which never happens, and she’s wondering if she really hurt the other girl’s feelings. They are on the same team, after all, and LSD really hasn’t done anything to her. Nico’s being ridiculous, and Alex is right (though she’d never tell him that).

She shakes it off and gets to business. It’s a lone man with a knife holding his boss hostage after getting fired, and Nico makes the knife disappear into thin air before using her magic to wrap the guy up with a telephone cord. The boss is a bawling mess, which Nico really can’t handle, so she walks the hostage taker outside to the flash of cameras as he curses and fumes at her. Normally she hates any publicity, but it feels kind of good to get an acknowledgement. So she answers a couple of questions instead of yelling at them to get out of the police’s way, and she feels pretty good, especially after handing the smelly guy off.

At least, that’s until she feels a sudden soft pressure envelop the top of her head, and she realizes what’s going to happen a second before she hears a pop, and a gooey liquid splashes all over her, right in front of the camera she was frown-smiling into. She looks down, and her perfectly gloomy black clothes are covered in a pink paint that drips off her body.

“She got me,” Nico mumbles, numb. She looks straight up and can see LSD glowing in the sky directly over her, silhouetted by dark clouds. Nico’s mouth sets.

This is war.


	2. Return Fire

Karolina is a little bit in love with Sister Grimm.

It all started when she first moved to LA a few months ago to start at UCLA. Her foster parents, the Yorkeses, were paying her tuition, no doubt out of guilt from their involvement in the crimes that led to her parents being arrested. Karolina was talking to her foster sister Gertrude Yorkes on the phone as she walked to her car after a late class, books tucked under her arm. It was windy, and her hair blew out ahead of her as she laughed at something Gertrude said. 

“Seriously, Karolina, you could do some good over there. And no one will be able to see who you are if you’re glowing,” Gertrude huffed.

“There’s no way, Gert. I’m trying to be a normal kid here. I was always ‘that kid in the cult’ in high school, but no one knows me here. If I get found out as an alien, that’s it. Plus the government might kidnap me,” she replied, walking down the sidewalk to the parking lot.

“Come on,” Gertrude groaned. “Chase and I have been superheroes for months and months, and no one’s discovered our identities. We need more female superheroes to represent, Karolina. They’re still mostly white male cisgender--”

“I know. Let me think about it, okay?” She was almost to her car, so she said, “I gotta go.”

“Okay, but if you need one of Chase’s crime-hunting devices, we can overnight it,” Gertrude said temptingly. Chase is her tech-savvy boyfriend, and they fight crime together back home, Gertrude with a dinosaur that is psychically connected to her and Chase with gadgets. It’s pretty romantic, in Karolina’s opinion, even if her foster sister with super strength, Molly, does occasionally tag along with them. 

“Okay, Gert,” Karolina laughed. She walked past a hooded man who watched her head to her car, and she didn’t notice a thing. “I can’t believe your boyfriend has a machine that can show the future, and you just use it to find crime.”

Gertrude hummed. “We may have used it to make a little money.” At Karolina’s gasp, she said defensively, “My parents won’t fund our crime fighting anymore! They say it’s too dangerous.”

“Crime doesn’t pay, Gertrude,” Karolina said. 

“Thanks, Mom,” Gertrude groaned. “Please don’t let that be your crime fighting catchphrase, it’s lame.”

Karolina made a non-committal noise as she reached her car and fished in her hoodie pocket for keys. Gravel crunched as someone approached. 

“Besides, we didn’t break any laws. We just...bent them a little. Maybe.”

“Sure, Gert. But hey, I really gotta go. Can’t talk and drive.”

“Goodie goodie,” Gertrude grumbled. “Okay, bye.”

“Bye,” Karolina said back, clicking the red button and pocketing her phone. She finally got her keys out and moved to unlock her car. She heard a very recognizable click behind her and froze. 

“Turn around real slow,” said a voice.

She turned and saw the hooded man from earlier. Her eyes were trained on his gun, and she raised both hands, one clutching the keys and the other her books.

“I don’t want any trouble,” she said, an edge to her voice saying otherwise. With one blast of rainbow light, she could disable the guy before he saw it coming. But what if there were cameras, or what if the guy told?

“Good,” said the guy. “Just hand over the keys and run along then. No trouble necessary.”

She didn’t move, her jaw clenched, and the man’s eyes narrowed.

“Give me the damn keys!” he suddenly barked, and she jumped. His face turned so red so fast that it scared her even more than him yelling. She held them out to him, the keys and metal charms jingling as her hand shook. The man took a step forward, and suddenly his gun turned to rust that poured out of his hand. They both stared for a moment before he said, “What the f--” 

And suddenly Sister Grimm was there, signature smirk in place. Karolina had heard of her, but she never imagined she would see her in person, rising up behind the guy like she had jumped right out of his shadow. She lifted her staff, and a black, writhing ooze appeared around the man’s feet. A dozen black, tiny hands shot out of the ooze and grabbed at his body, dragging him down until the black substance enveloped him. Then it disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared, leaving a pale, chattering mess of a man behind. The would-be robber’s hands and feet were bound in leftover black goop.

Sister Grimm sighed and cracked her neck. “Took care of it, send the cops,” she said into her black watch, which blinked with a white light in response. Then she looked up at Karolina with a slow blink as if remembering she was there. Karolina did her best to wipe the residual horror off her face.

“You okay?” Sister Grimm asked, her voice bland. She was dressed in a feminine, gothic outfit, and a short, see-through black veil covered most of her face, revealing very little of her features. Karolina doubted she’d be able to tell much from her expression even without it.

“Uh, yeah,” Karolina said, the hand clenching the keys still raised in front of her. She lowered her arms and swallowed. “Is--is that guy okay?”

She could see the superhero’s glare even through the veil. “Yeah,” Sister Grimm said bluntly. “But he won’t be stealing cars anytime soon.”

And maybe Karolina just didn’t want the hero to think badly of her, so she blurted out, “Thank you, that was...amazing,” and she knew she was blushing as the other girl raised her eyebrow. 

“Amazing?” she asked, sounding vaguely amused. “Don’t hear that often. I usually get ‘terrifying’ or ‘creepy.’”

“It was _amazing_ ,” Karolina confirmed, and the two girls smiled at each other for a second before Sister Grimm’s watch beeped. She touched her ear, seeming to listen, and then sighed, suddenly looking so weary.

“Well, no rest for the wicked,” Sister Grimm said wryly. “I have to go. The cops are in route though and might want a statement from you.” She glared at the man bound on the ground. “He shouldn’t be a problem.” Then she looked back at Karolina, and a gust of wind blew her hair in her face. She tucked it behind her ear and smiled at the other girl, the wind catching her veil enough that the alien could see just how pretty the smile really was. “See you around.”

And then she was flying away, and Karolina collapsed back against her car door, books clutched to her chest. 

“Holy crap,” she whispered.

After the cops were done questioning her, she went home and Googled everything she could about Sister Grimm. Karolina was honestly stunned to see the amount of hostility the superhero had been faced with by the press. That combined with how tired Sister Grimm seemed earlier--”No rest for the wicked” played over and over in Karolina’s head--decided things faster than Gertrude’s constant pestering ever did. Karolina had to help Sister Grimm. She called Gertrude that night and got her crime-predictor the next day.

And the day after that, she stopped her first robbery. 

So she’d been kind of fantasizing about the next time she’d see Sister Grimm. She kind of hoped that it involved Karolina swooping in at the last minute and saving her. There’d be awe and gratitude and maybe LSD and Sister Grimm could team up and then she could ask her for her number, and…

Well, regardless, that’s definitely not how it goes. It instead involves a whole lot of black paint, a huge mess in her apartment, and a very long shower.

So she’s a little disappointed but, well, she’ll take what she can get. Maybe this is some kind of weird, new-hero-in-town hazing thing.

Her return fire is less about revenge and more about continuing a conversation. So she watches from a window, floating in midair and cradling a giant balloon, as Sister Grimm deftly handles the hostage situation and then flies directly above her as she talks to the press. She drops the paint balloon on the girl from above and kind of hopes it will get the other hero to talk to her, but the girl instead flies off, pink as a Pepto Bismol commercial. Karolina goes home with the distinct feeling that she really screwed up.

The next day, she shows up to a walk-out at a local factory where workers are picketing outside, demanding better wages. Her device had told her that violence would break out, so she walks among the people to listen to them and try to calm down the angriest ones. People start chuckling as she passes, and she’s definitely lightening the mood as she'd hoped, though she’s not sure why. People grin at her and nudge the others next to them, and finally she asks a younger guy what’s going on.

He laughs but takes pity on her and says, “I think you made a certain somebody mad. Here, turn around.” She turns hesitantly, and he snaps a picture of her back. When she turns back around to protest, he shows her his phone. On her glowing back are black words that almost look like they were written in sharpie but were most definitely magically created: “Kick me!” The message is signed by a pentagram, and it can only be one person.

“What’d you do to Sister Grimm?” the man asks, sounding amused, and she only groans. 

She's going to need backup for this.


End file.
